1990 GMC Sierra SE 5.0L from North America

Summary:

Cheap and reliable

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I bought this truck for $300 in the summer of 2006. It was treated very badly by the previous owner. There were oil leaks, rusted brake lines, and the rear-end was shot. We put about $500 in parts into, including new brakes and lines all around, a used rear-end, and some minor body work around the door pillars and fenders...

Once all the problems were fixed (which are no fault of the truck, they are all just stuff that should have been fixed by the previous owner) the truck has been great. It is a joy to drive, handles well on snow and ice (provided I put some weight in the back) and is not too bad on fuel consumption.

I've been driving it for about 4 months and have no problems, except for a heater blower motor that seized when the temperature went down really cold a few nights ago. Once the temp went up it worked again.

It has over 250,000 km on it; I can't tell the exact amount though because the odometer hasn't worked since I bought the truck...

22nd Mar 2007, 08:18

I am checking in... it is the spring of 2007, and I am still driving this truck... nothing has gone wrong with it yet, with the exception of replacing the distributor cap because water was getting into the cap and making it run poorly on damp rainy days... The distributor cap cost about $20 and the engine has run smoothly since then, as well as experiencing a dramatic increase in gas mileage because the engine was missing on some cylinders. Other than that it has worked perfectly. I strongly recommend these trucks.

10th Aug 2009, 14:25

Thanks for the input. I was thinking of buying a truck off of my friend. It's a 1990 SLE Sierra. He wants 500 bucks for it with 238.000 km. The body was done a while back and it needs some TLC due to blisters. Needs an exhaust from the sounds and look of it from the cat back. Seems peppy. Thanks for your post. I feel I should grab this deal.

1990 GMC Sierra SLE 5.7 from North America

Summary:

Faults:

Heater Core 140,000

A/C clutch 130,000

Alternator twice 120,000/125,000

Tensioner pulley twice 120,000/125,000

Idler arm 180,000

Fuel pump (inside gas tank) 160,000.

General Comments:

Do you believe this truck? My wife has driven this truck 100,000 miles in the last 9 years and it only left her stranded once. Fuel pump which had to be replaced by dealer. Other than that it has been a gem. No engine or transmission work ever. Not even spark plugs. It blows a very minor amount of smoke at start-up which is valve seals. Other than that it's just oil changes at 3000-3500 miles. I have put about $1500 in repairs in a 13 year old truck in 9 years. Maybe GMC A-Team was on duty to built this one. We went to R-134 refrigerant about 70,000 miles ago and still cools fine.